Sasaeng Sister [In big roles: Sunghoon, Lee Know, skz, Ateez, Jungkook]

Chapter 22

Sunghoon asked me to meet him at his grandpa's place on Friday.

That day, Minho was at the studio, and Mike and Ae Ri were at work. Hari, too, was preparing to leave somewhere because she took over the upstairs bathroom, where she applied makeup and ironed her hair.

I had been ready for an hour, sporting a neat ponytail, jeans, and a T-shirt. My curved and colored lashes made me pretty enough to meet Sunghoon but not too dressed up to seem like I had prepared for a date. For the final touch, I dabbed a bit of perfume on my wrists.

Sunghoon should have come already. I peeked outside, hoping to see his car drive down our street.

The doorbell rang.

The sudden noise startled me, and I spilled nearly half a bottle of perfume on my hands.

Crap!

Why did Sunghoon come to the door? Last time he had sent me a message that his car had arrived.

I ran downstairs before Hari could.

On the way to the front door, I grabbed a piece of paper towel from the kitchen and dried off the spilled perfume.

All that rushing was unnecessary because Hari didn't come to see who was at the door.

And it wasn't even Sunghoon.

The doorbell camera showed a man who moved restlessly, shifting his weight from left to right. He kept his head low as if he knew about the camera. The man wore a hood that covered his features. When a car drove past our house, he pulled the hoodie's drawstrings to hide more of his face.

He rang the bell again.

I backed off, remembering the time someone had broken into our house. Either this guy was a burglar, trying to find out if someone was home, or he was one of Hari's shady friends. I was unsure if the latter was any better.

I ran upstairs. This was the first time I turned to Hari for help.

"Some weird guy is at the door. I'm... I'm scared that he's a thief or something."

Hari marched downstairs to check the situation.

She turned around when she saw the doorbell camera.

"It's just Lucas," she said, climbing upstairs, back toward the bathroom where all her beauty products were spread out.

I followed her halfway up.

"Why won't you open the door then?"

She pointed at her eye.

"I'm not done with the mascara. Besides, he deserves to wait outside."

"Why? Are you not friends anymore after he sobered up?"

Hari peeked out of the bathroom, giving me a dirty look.

"He's my boyfriend."

I stared at her, unable to hold my tongue.

"Then you should know that his name is not Lucas."

"Fuck you," Hari muttered and disappeared into the bathroom.

I returned downstairs and opened the door for Lucas.

He hurried in as if running from danger.

"Shit, I was scared someone might see m..."

He stopped talking when he noticed me.

"Hi, uhm... have we met before? I'm..." he said, eyes darting to the kitchen living room area behind me.